Blogs and Commentary

NCAA Division III Notebook

They set the bar for first-year programs last spring, but now
Jake Plunket and his Albright squad are entering their sophomore
year. It's likely to be a little rockier than the inaugural
campaign that produced a 16-3 record and a trip to the MAC
Commonwealth title game.

With Cortland and Stevenson — the two top teams in the
country — on the docket and opponents no longer looking past
the upstart program, a new reality has set in.

"The players know last year was unlike any year," Plunket said.
"We've had a lot of success against some good teams, but they also
know that the schedule needs to be amped up a little bit. They need
to be challenged because it doesn't get any easier down the road.
We've got No. 1 [Cortland] in the first game of the season and then
down the road we've got No. 2 [Stevenson]. Not bad for a
second-year program, I guess."

Plunket has no illusions about the difficulty of this season's
journey, but he has been buoyed by the addition of another
recruiting class. The rookies are not only adding depth, but they
are also eliminating any lingering thoughts of entitlement from the
returners.

"Last year, we only had one class of guys to push each other,"
Plunket said. "Now we have this new class coming in and we have so
much more depth at the defensive position. We have two guys who are
knocking at the door to come in and play. We have a bunch of good
middies and a couple of transfers who have been tearing it up. So
the guys have to constantly step up every day as sophomores. If
they take a practice off, there are a bunch of freshmen who are
hungry and they smell the blood because they know that the
opportunity is there to play. It's good to create that competitive
rivalry on the field and it pushes the practices. We didn't see
that last year, so it's refreshing."

The returners are motivated by the way the '12 season ended.
Despite the magical ride, Albright coughed up a 5-0 lead against
Widener — a team the Lions defeated in the regular season
— in the conference championship game, and it happened in
front of packed house that had embraced their success.

"We had a stadium filled with 2,000 people. At the beginning of
the season, we might have had 30 people," Plunket said. "The
community didn't know much about the sport yet and we were getting
our feet wet on campus, but then after all the success we got a lot
of support. It did kind of leave a bad taste in our mouth.

"We went into the locker room after the game and nobodywas happy
about it. We go into this season, and now we use that last game as
motivation to get ready for this season. We know that it isn't
going to get any easier. We grew up last year and we took our bumps
and bruises, but now it's time to see what we're made of. We'll see
what those freshmen learned over the last year and the experience
they gained."

Plunket blends an odd combination of realism and optimism in his
coaching style. He's been around lacrosse long enough to keep him
on an even keel, but has an excitement about his school and program
that allows him to enjoy the ride.

That ride starts on Feb. 23 when Cortland comes to town. Plunket
was raised in Cortland before winning two national titles at
Syracuse as a team captain, and was an assistant at Cortland after
graduation, so he knows what he is getting into. Still, he sees the
match-up with the Red Dragons as a win-win proposition.

"We'll get the college out here and the recruits out here. I
grew up in Cortland, so a bunch of my friends and family are coming
down and they'll probably root for Cortland," said Plunket with a
laugh. "But it's all good. At the end of the day, we'll tailgate,
have fun and it'll be a great event."

- Last month I posted a long story about the impact of the early recruiting
efforts by Division I lacrosse coaches on Division
III, using the feedback of many of the top coaches in the D-III
ranks. After former Division III players Sam Bradman (Salisbury)
and Mike Simon (Stevenson) stole the show at Champion Challenge for
Team USA, Richie Meade summed up a key aspect of my story with his
postgame quote in a story by LM's Corey
McLaughlin.

"[Bradman] is a good player. Simon is another guy that came from
Division III who we're all shaking our heads at, trying to figure
out where we were several years ago when he was being recruited,"
Meade said. "There are a lot of good players. Guys develop at
different times."

- RIT head coach Jake Coon confirmed that sophomore Brendan
MacDonald will not be playing for the Tigers this spring after a
spectacular rookie campaign in which he was second on the team in
points with 33 goals and 17 assists. It's certainly a blow to RIT,
which now will be without the services of four of the top five
scorers from last year's team heading into one of the stiffest
schedules in the country...Stevenson is still waiting to hear back
from the NCAA on its waiver application for another year of
eligibility for midfielder Nick Rossi. Rossi had 20 goals and nine
assists out of the midfield for the Mustangs in '12...the Division
III season kicks off on Friday when Rhodes entertains Southwestern
at 3 p.m. There are three games scheduled for Saturday.